Swiftkey Targets Non-Verbal Users With New ‘Symbols’ App

Swiftkey is one of the most widely used and most popular keyboard apps on Android with tons of features and plenty of language support. Today they have just released a new app called Swiftkey Symbols in an effort to further expand their offerings and communication easier for everyone. Symbols is targeted at non-verbal individuals with special needs who may have difficulty speaking or typing, and Swiftkey states that the application is aimed at younger users but it is not limited to any one single age group, meaning it can be used by basically anyone who may need some assistance in communicating.

Swiftkey Symbols is free, and is part of Swiftkey’s Greenhouse team which handles the experimental apps projects including other apps like Swiftkey Neural Alpha, Clarity Keyboard, and Hexy Launcher. The goal of the app is to make it easier for those who have challenges learning and speaking to communicate with family members and friends, and it’s built on Swiftkey’s awesome contextual learning technology so it can predict upcoming communication just like with the other Swiftkey keyboards. The app is capable of predicting the next symbol that user may want to select, and the more the app gets used the more it learns and can better predict future symbol selections.

The predictions take accuracy even further by attempting to use the time of day and day of the week to help users grab the best possible symbol choice. Symbols are categorized out to make them easier to find from the get go, and the app also allows for user customization to add in their own symbols and have the ability to add them to specific categories. In addition to selecting symbols from the category lists, the prediction slider bar at the top of the app is also available for use. Swiftkey Symbols is compatible with both smartphones and tablets, so no matter which type of device a user might have at their disposal the app is accessible. It also works with any device running on Android 4.4 KitKat forward which is most devices at this point, so there shouldn’t be many lockouts based on software version.